Said in his interview with Andrew Marr yesterday- he says he won't stop EU immigration and says that free movement will not be part of his planned EU reforms. Is this a big mistake by Cameron this close to an EU Election as as we all know immigration is one of the most contentious EU issues

(Original post by RumpeIstiltskin)
I know right, if they embraced Scottish independence Labour wouldn't really be a threat to them anymore

Except, of course, for all the elections Labour when where they had a majority in English seats (which would be all elections except two). Even without the Scottish seats, Labour still would have won in 1997, 2001 and 2005.

Even leaving aside the fact that Scottish independence is far less damaging to Labour than Conservatives presume (without, obviously, doing even a basic analysis of how many Labour seats in Scotland and whether that is larger than previous majorities), it would be pretty outrageous for any party to support dissolution of the union for petty political gain.

(Original post by MostUncivilised)
Excellent, I hope all right-wingers of good conscience will vote UKIP as a result of this.

As a Labour supporter, sometimes I can't believe David Cameron is making this so easy

David Cameron shows what a fool he is, the entire right side will now go to UKIP he has just completely alienated his core voters, those who want free movement and are pro on the whole vote Labour and Libdems and big misjudgement of Cameron's part the grassroots will run

(Original post by Ace123)
David Cameron shows what a fool he is, the entire right side will now go to UKIP he has just completely alienated his core voters, those who want free movement and are pro on the whole vote Labour and Libdems and big misjudgement of Cameron's part the grassroots will run

Indeed. I find it hard to understand why the Conservatives are so complacent about this, they genuinely don't realise how much danger they are in from UKIP, how deeply they are offending people who have been their core supporters and activists, who have got out to vote for them decade after decade, rain hail or shine.

(Original post by MostUncivilised)
Indeed. I find it hard to understand why the Conservatives are so complacent about this, they genuinely don't realise how much danger they are in from UKIP, how deeply they are offending people who have been their core supporters and activists, who have got out to vote for them decade after decade, rain hail or shine.

Cameron really has completely messed himself and the Tories up following this approach god knows why his adviser or other party member didn't tell him

(Original post by MostUncivilised)
Indeed. I find it hard to understand why the Conservatives are so complacent about this, they genuinely don't realise how much danger they are in from UKIP, how deeply they are offending people who have been their core supporters and activists, who have got out to vote for them decade after decade, rain hail or shine.

Pandering to Ukip will not win Cameron the election. The problem here is not that he's risking his base, it's that he failed to reach out beyond before this. The timing is pretty awful.

(Original post by Rakas21)
Pandering to Ukip will not win Cameron the election. The problem here is not that he's risking his base, it's that he failed to reach out beyond before this. The timing is pretty awful.

He's really in a catch 22. If he doesn't reach out to the right, he risks not stemmig the haemorrhage of votes from the Conservatives to UKIP. Conversely, pandering to the right of the party will cost him crucial centre votes without which the Conservatives simply cannot form government.

I personally don't envy Cameron his dilemma, the Lib Dems are equally in a lot of trouble in that they cannot win back centre-left votes unless they start seriously distinguishing themselves from the government, I would have thought they should have withdrawn from the coalition 12 months out from the election and agreed to a "confidence and supply" arrangement. It is questionable whether there is any real prospect of winning back centre-left votes, I would suggest its nigh impossible. Of course, distancing themselves from the Conservatives risks undermining their ability to run on their record and raising questions about what they've been doing in coalition with the Conservatives for the last 4 years.

I would submit that Labour is probably in the strongest position in that it really only faces conventional electoral issues of maintaining and increasing its support, rather than the complex issues facing the Conservatives and Lib Dems in terms of positioning. Labour and UKIP seem to be sitting pretty

(Original post by MostUncivilised)
He's really in a catch 22. If he doesn't reach out to the right, he risks not stemmig the haemorrhage of votes from the Conservatives to UKIP. Conversely, pandering to the right of the party will cost him crucial centre votes without which the Conservatives simply cannot form government.

I personally don't envy Cameron his dilemma, the Lib Dems are equally in a lot of trouble in that they cannot win back centre-left votes unless they start seriously distinguishing themselves from the government, I would have thought they should have withdrawn from the coalition 12 months out from the election and agreed to a "confidence and supply" arrangement. It is questionable whether there is any real prospect of winning back centre-left votes, I would suggest its nigh impossible. Of course, distancing themselves from the Conservatives risks undermining their ability to run on their record and raising questions about what they've been doing in coalition with the Conservatives for the last 4 years.

I would submit that Labour is probably in the strongest position in that it really only faces conventional electoral issues of maintaining and increasing its support, rather than the complex issues facing the Conservatives and Lib Dems in terms of positioning. Labour and UKIP seem to be sitting pretty

Aye. Regarding the coalition i've always wondered if Christmas 2014 would see a mutual divorce. It makes sense in that they want to do it after the Autumn Statement (assuming good economic news) but it gives them time to campaign and they'd only really have to back final bill readings and the budget.

That's not a mistake. That's saying that he has actually read at least a summary of the various treaties we've signed that mean that he can't legally stop EU immigration (not to mention that doing so would be immensely stupid).